This invention relates generally to techniques for constructing fiber optic sensor arrays, particularly fiber optic hydrophone arrays. Still more particularly, this invention relates to a housing for connection to an array cable to contain array components and maintain the tensile strength of the array cable.
A towed array generally includes hydrophones and telemetry couplers spliced together and packaged loosely within a foam body, which is then placed within a strength member frame and booted within a hose. For bottom arrays, integration occurs by cutting into a pre-fabricated cable and, once integrated, the hydrophones and telemetry couplers are overmolded for protection.
Generally, for both approaches, the optical fiber used between hydrophones and telemetry components is either tight buffered, in a loose tube (loose buffered), or has the standard thin acrylate buffering. This makes them tend to be susceptible to damage, especially at either splice locations or at transition points from the outer jacketing to the bare fiber.
A housing for connection to a fiber optic array cable formed of a plurality of constituent cables that each comprise an optical fiber and a tensile strength member corresponding to each optical fiber to form a fiber optic sensor array comprises a base formed generally as an elongate rectangle with end caps connected to its ends. Each end cap is formed to include a plurality of cable termination slots for connection to the strength members of selected constituent cables to which array components are connected and a plurality of cable bypass slots for routing constituent cables that are not connected to components around the housing.
A surface of the base may include a cable bypass slot so that a constituent cable that will not be connected to array components in the housing may be routed past the housing.
Each end cap preferably includes a symmetrical arrangement of the cable termination slots, which formed to retain cable terminators connected to the respective strength members of the constituent cables.